Psychiatrist cleared in child sex abuse case

A prominent child psychiatrist accused of leading a 13-year-old patient to wrongly believe that she had been sexually abused has been cleared of serious professional misconduct.

A General Medical Council disciplinary committee found that while a number of allegations had been proved against Dr John Eastgate, he was not guilty of the "gravest" charge against him.

Dr Eastgate, a 53-year-old consultant at Princess Margaret's Hospital in Swindon, Wiltshire, allegedly prompted the girl with "leading questions" during a series of therapy sessions in 1996.

He had asked her to identify the person who had "let her down" and questioned her about the number of times it had happened.

Dr Eastgate denied the allegations against him during the six-day hearing. In delivering the committee's verdict, Prof Peter Richards told him that the case had gone "to the heart of a doctor's dilemma".

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He said Dr Eastgate's conduct during the therapy session with the girl and his subsequent notetaking had "fallen short" of the principles of good practice but did not amount to serious professional misconduct.